


Premonitions

by Mewwy



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-02
Updated: 2012-02-02
Packaged: 2017-10-30 12:51:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/331918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mewwy/pseuds/Mewwy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve worries about Danny when an underground cage fighting scene shows up on Oahu.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Premonitions

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first time I am posting a full story. It was honest to gosh beta'd too. My thanks to Gnat. Anyway please be gentle. Hope you enjoy.

Steve had gone out for his morning swim. Rolling over Danny tried to get back to sleep. He punched the pillow a couple of time until he finally gave up. Grousing, he got out of bed and wandered downstairs. At least Steve had set up the coffee maker. After all this time, Danny still had no clue how to set the timer. 'Damn complicated device.' Taking his first sip he relished the coffee. "Ahhh," he sighed. "Nectar of the gods." Clutching his cup he leaned against the counter. Once again, the night had dissolved into nightmares for Steve. All Danny could do was hold on to him until the tremors and tears passed.

It took Danny a second to recognize his cell phone ring. "Shit." Setting his coffee down he raced upstairs to answer the phone. "Williams."

"Hey, Danny. We got a case. Dockworker at Pier 6. Beaten to death."

Danny groaned. "This is the third one in a week."

"Yeah. Kono and I are headed their now."

Scrubbing his face Danny told Chin, "Call Lori, too, please. I have to get SuperSEAL out of the ocean."

"Good luck with that, brah." Chin hung up.

"Shit. So much for our day off." Danny went out on the upper deck. Steve was still too far out. He hopped in the shower and got ready in hopes Steve would be done shortly.

Before putting his shoes on, Danny headed down to the beach. Steve was close to the shore, but still too far to yell. Hoping he wouldn't wake the neighbors, Danny did a wolf whistle to get Steve's attention. Head up and looking for the source of the whistle he sees Danny waving, Steve saw he was needed. Steve did a hand wave and pushed harder toward the shore. Job done, Danny went back inside for a warm cup of coffee and to wait.

Ten minutes later, Steve flew through the house. "Give me 10," he said as he was running upstairs.

Danny texted Chin 'be there in 30.' Then went back to the sports section of the paper.

 

Several hours later found them at HQ. “The dockworker's name was Saul Batterson, age 33. There have been two other reported suspicious deaths of dockworkers. Mel Philips, age 35, and Gino Kai, also 35. All three men look to have been beaten to death. 

“What else?” asked Steve.

Chin shrugged. "That's all we have. Max is doing the autopsy on Batterson as we speak, so we should have something soon. Philips and Kai had several broken bones. Max indicated that both men had rehealed bones in their hands. Conclusive to manual labor and possibly fighting or boxing. Both men seemed to be in good health."

"So did Max determine COD?" Danny asked.

All of them were standing around the tech table. Chin threw up Philips picture. "Philips died of a lacerated liver. He bled out internally. Kai died from a traumatic brain injury. Something hit his head so hard, it caused a brain bleed."

"Well, our guy this morning looked like he'd gone nine rounds with Ali. Is it possible they were fighters?" Steve looked at Chin and Danny.

Kono walked in. "Yes, Boss. Highly possible." Throwing a thumb drive in the table, she brought up additional information that she had gathered from HPD and her search on the victims. "All three were amateur fighters years ago. Kai was a Golden Gloves winner. While Batterson and Philips fought in the military."

Lori joined the group. "Max concurs. All of these mean appeared to have been fighting. There are fist print images all over the three men's torso and faces."

"Underground fight club?" Danny was the first to put it together. "Saw one of these back in Jersey. Rich people betting on morons fighting in a cage. No rules. First one knocked out loses. It was pretty awful. No one died though."

"Maybe someone raised the stakes?" Chin said, looking around. "Maybe it's a fight to the death now?"

"I'll call the Governor. Find me this fight club." Steve went into his office.

 

The end of the day fund them no closer to finding the fight club. "Come on, babe. Let's go home."

"We got to get them Danny. There have been three deaths in nine days." Steve stood up and the two men made their way outside. "All we've got is it looks like they're using down-on-their-luck dockworkers who used to fight."

"Not all. The victims are all early to mid thirties and not local. No one to miss them."

Steve unlocked the Camaro and both men slid in. "We have two nights, Danny, until the next fight. I don't want another body."

"I don't either, but first we have to find them. We just need to table this for the night. We still have time." It was quiet on the way home. "Oh, we need to hit Whole Foods. We are out of milk, coffee and," pulling out his phone Danny scrolled though and found the list, "pasta, sausage, and turkey. Oh, and various fruit and vegetables." Danny put his phone back in his pocket.

Chuckling Steve said, "So, we are doing a full food run?"

"Yes, we are."

"Why didn't you just say so?"

Hands moving. "At least I remembered before we got home. It was an early morning."

"Not for me." Smiling, Steve quickly looked at Danny. "If you got up earlier, you could swim with me. Exercise is important Danny."

"Blah, blah, blah." Danny is waving his hands around. "I get plenty of exercise chasing after you. In case you haven't noticed, I also hit the HPD gym as often as our schedule allows. Then there is the very energetic sex we have on a regular basis. So, I think I get plenty of exercise thank you very much." Danny looked at Steve.

"Did you even take a breath?"

Shaking his head. "Tell me again why I put up with you?"

"Very energetic sex?"

Laughing. "There is that, but not any time soon if you don't behave." As they pulled into Whole Foods and parked, Danny sighed. "Tell me we didn't leave the reusable bags at home. We have a fuckton of them now."

As Steve got out, he said, "No, I swear I put some in both vehicles." Popping the truck, "Bingo." Amongst all the task force equipment were five reusable bags.

"Thanks, babe. Bring 'em all."

"No, problem." Shutting the trunk, they headed inside.

They made good time through the market. Standing in the pasta isle, Steve was staring at the pasta. "Bowtie or Rotini?"

"Rotini. Hell, grab both. It's for pasta salad this weekend." Danny was looking at the sauce. Instead he grabs a jar of chunky tomatoes, Danny put it in the basket. He didn't like to use jarred sauce, but sometimes he had no choice. "Do you want it with sauce or just the chunky tomatoes?" Trying to decide whether to grab tomato paste of not.

"Chunky tomatoes."

"Hrmph."

"Danno, I've been thinking."

"Dangerous."

Both men chuckled. "No, seriously. You do realize you fit the profile of our three dead dockworkers?"

Stopping to look at Steve. "I'm a cop Steven. Not a dockworker."

"But the age, build, non-local, and boxing background match."

"I boxed to let off steam. I didn't fight. Being short, I chose to use my mouth over my fists." He dropped some feta cheese in the basket.

"You may have only boxed, but records can be forged."

"Let me get this straight. When we find this fight club, you want me to go undercover as a fighter?"

Biting his lip. "No." Gently touching Danny's arm. "I don't want you in the ring. I couldn't handle that."

"So there." Danny covered Steve's hand.

"But if we have to go undercover, you might have to."

"Steve, if we have to go UC, I won't be going under as a fighter. I promise."

Steve squeezed Danny's arm. "You can't promise me that."

"We can figure this out, when and if, and I do mean IF, the time comes." Danny was watching the expression on Steve's face. He had on Pained Hamster Face.

I don't want you in that ring." It was a quiet growl.

Danny sighed. "We won't figure this out now. Let's finish shopping and go home, babe."

Nodding, Steve said, "Okay."

 

The tension at Five-O HQ was palpable. So far, they had nothing. It had been two days; two long days. All they had learned was that whoever was throwing the fight club they were keeping a low profile. High end clientele, always on the move, and a 25K buy in at the door. No names though. Kamekona had gotten them the location of the latest fight, but they were too late. The warehouse was empty except for blood and betting slips. Now they were waiting for the call from HPD. HPDs crime lab had confirmed all three bodies had been dumped where they were found in different parts of the docks. HPD had the docks covered looking for the next body to drop.

Steve was pacing. Chin, Lori, and Kono were with the crime lab at the warehouse. The only news was the place was empty, although CSU was going to run prints from the betting slips. Now, they were waiting on a body dump. If this crew was fighting to the death, then it was only a matter of time.

Coming out of his office, Danny saw Steve pacing in his office. "Steve, man, you need to calm down."

"Where's the body, Danny?”

"Maybe there isn't one. Maybe, just maybe, the first three were a fluke. Kamekona didn't get it was that kind of scene. Max rechecked to see if it was murder. All three died from their injuries. He couldn't be positive that death hadn't been accidental. So let's hope," Steve's phone rang.

"McGarrett." Danny watched as Steve tensed. "Got it." He hung up. "We got a body."

"Well, shit."

 

"Ethan Myles. 34. Fought Golden Gloves in Florida. Been in Hawaii eight months." Chin threw his picture up with the other three. "Death due to blunt force trauma of the chest. Max thinks a punch to the sternum stopped his heart."

Lori took over. "Fist marks are a different size from the other three vics. Myles' fist size matched the marks on Philips, bit not on Batterson." Chin threw up financial records from all three victims to show the similarities. "Myles' story is the same as the other three. Heavy financial debt."

"But this," Kono started, once again Chin threw some images up on the screen, this time it was 3D images of the fists, "is where it gets interesting. All of the men have the same fist pattern near the injury that killed them. It also appears they have each fought the other over the course of the twelve to fifteen days. Fist patterns from Kai match Philips and vice versa. Batterson appears to have fought all three of the others. It appears they are fighting up through the ranks." 

"Do they move up if they live?" Steve asked.

Danny held up his hand. "Wait. If they live, they lose. Back into the ring. Whoever wins may move on, but, if this is truly a fight to the death, everyone loses. Have we checked death beneficiaries? Dockworkers have high risk jobs. It means, most likely, these guys had life insurance. Ask Max about any anomalies in the autopsies. Check again. I think these guys know they're going to their death or the buy in wouldn't be so high. Who gains from their deaths?"

Everyone stood looking at Danny. "So this is what? Suicide by punch?" Steve asked.

"Essentially, yes. Five, six years ago, the Russian mob was running a high stakes Russian roulette battle. Buy in was 15K or something like that. Only the dying need apply. You pony up the cash. They sold tickets on the web for 10K a pop. The game was for three rounds with a 38 cal. The winner dies. The money goes to a beneficiary. People were literally dying to get in. We had six bodies before we were able shut them down."

"Damn. We need to have Max go back over the bodies again. Lori, you and Kono find out who the beneficiaries of the victims insurance are. Chin, go see Max. Explain what we need." Steve looked at his team. "I want these people. Danny, I need you to dig through their financials again. See if they could make the buy in. I'm going to see the Governor."

 

It took nearly 24 hours before they got the break they needed. Kamekona came through. "Otto Lazlo. Russian nationalist. Working with the local Yakuza to run the fight club. He's been on Oahu about two months." Chin turns to look at the team. "Interpol has no photo. Thought to be a low level enforcer with the Russian mob. We have a description. 6'10", medium to dark completion, black hair, 300 pounds."

Danny whistles. "That is one big Russian."

"Yeah. So, I guess they don't usually grow them that big in Russia so he isn't on any agency watch list yet. Since he is low level they probably didn't think he would be hard to identify. Up until two months ago, he had never left Russia." Chin ended his part of the briefing.

Kono pulled up the insurance policies and beneficiary information. "We discovered that there are death benefits to two ex-wives, one son, and one wife, separated." All of them over 250K. Kai's was 250 to his wife. Philips and Myles were 400K to their exes. Batterson was 500 K to his son. We also dug a bit deeper into the financials of each of the beneficiaries. Each of them received 100K after the death of their loved one."

Lori stepped in and brought up Max's reports. "I saw Max this morning. All four men had a rare form of cancer. He didn't note it to us because that isn't the COD. The primary CODs are exsanguination, blow to the head and blunt force to the sternum. It was in the footnotes of the autopsy." Lori brought up another document. "All four were being treated at Queens Mercy. We have a call in to the Director of Oncology about other men who may fit our criteria."

"How many 30-35 year old men with a rare form of cancer can be on this island?" Steve huffed.

"They aren't local. So, ii could be a lot. Helluva coincidence they are all dockworkers." Danny shrugged. "And dockworkers can be pretty transient. Half of your population is local, the other half transient. It just happens these four have cancer. We don't know how many fighters they have."

"I'll call the Director back, explain we need to expand our search to all forms of cancer, not just rare ones." Lori headed to her office.

"Danny?"

Chuckling. "I found nothing. They didn’t share the same gym. Bills were a scattershot of different companies. All had Hawaii Telcom for a landline phone and HECO for electric. Nothing we didn't already know before."

"We need to get into the next fight."

Rubbing his eyes, Chin said. "Maybe Kamekona could get us in? Maybe get a fighter in there? A couple of whales?"

Stopping his pacing, Steve looked at Chin. "I'd rather just shut them down if we can help it. We've got four dead already. I don't want anymore."

"Chin, you and Kono finish up here. SuperSEAL and I are going to see our friend for shave ice." Danny said, grabbing Steve and pulling him.

"Danny!"

"Then take the night off you guys. Good work!" Danny punched Steve in the arm.

"Yeah, good work."

"Steve, you have got to stop being a automaton in there. The team is doing everything we can." Danny's hands were waving. "I know the Governor is breathing down your neck, but we got this."

"No, what we have is four dead dockworkers." Steve's hands tighten on the wheel. "We need to stop them," he ground out.

Danny looked over at Steve. "We will stop them, but this is a hard one. These men want to die. Lazlo is paying a lot of money to the beneficiaries to have these men fight to the death. He is probably making several million from the fights. What we need is to hit the docks again. Question everyone and anyone who knew the victims. See if anyone is sporting new bruises. Back to pounding the pavement." Danny paused, softening his tone, "Sometimes we have to lose to win, Steve. We may have more bodies before this is over. You need to prepare for that possibility."

Keeping his eyes on the road with what Danny termed his 'Constipation Face,' Steve said, "The Governor wants this shut down. We can't lose anymore."

"Okay. Pull over. I mean it. Pull over." Steve looked confused, but pulled into a parking spot. "Now tell me what this is about. Because four dead dockworkers does not usually have you this tense. You are beyond intense on this. I haven't seen mission-focused Steve in a while. Talk to me."

"I want this over." Steve started to say something, and then stopped. He took a breath and tried again. "I'm just worried. Okay?"

Dropping into silence, Danny waits for Steve to continue. When he doesn't, Danny says, "What is worrying you, babe? You can tell me."

"The longer this goes on, the more likely we need to go UC." Taking a breath. "It's a fight to the death, Danny." It was almost a whine.

"Oh, babe." Danny reached across the console and took Steve's hand, squeezing it. "No one is going undercover. Especially not me. I don't have cancer. I won't be getting in that ring. We will get them without having to pretend to be high rollers or fighters. We will find the fight and we bust them." Danny looked at Steve patiently. "Why are you so worried I’ll be in the ring?"

"I'm more worried I can't protect you. If we can't get a location on the next fight, we will have to go UC, and someone will have to fight." Steve looked worriedly at Danny. "You have to promise me you won't fight."

Taking a breath and smiling softly, Danny said "I can't do that Steven. You know that. If there isn't another way we will revisit this topic, but this is part of our jobs. You can't protect me from everything."

Steve's eyes tightened and Danny watched Steve shut down. "Then I need to be focused. I can't let my worries and concerns become a factor. This is eating me up."

Nodding and giving Steve's arm a gentle squeeze, Danny sighed, "I know. Just don’t take it out on the team. They are as frustrated as you are. Can you do that for me?" Steve nodded crisply. "Okay. It's the least we can do. Let's go see the big guy and see what he has for us."

 

Kamekona came through for them again. They had a place, old warehouse near the docks, and a time. HPD, SWAT, and Five-O had the warehouse surrounded. There was activity inside. Steve was relaying orders while everyone was getting into place. It was a controlled chaos at best.

The fights were supposed to start at 10 PM so they had planned the raid for 10:15 PM. It was the maximum opportunity to catch the whole group off guard. Lori was manning the surveillance van. Chin and Kono were with SWAT around back. Danny and Steve were with HPD at the front. They also made a blockade of the only avenue leading out. The ambulances were already at the scene because this was Five-O after all.

At 10:15 PM they hit the warehouse. The controlled chaos extended to the raid. Everything went fairly smooth, except when Danny confronted Lazlo. "Don't resist. I'll have to shoot. And the paperwork on that is a bitch." Lazlo just laughed. Before Danny could react, Lazlo threw a punch knocking Danny back several feet into some crates. Before he could recover, Lazlo hit him again. This time Danny was better prepared. He ducked enough that the blow glanced off his head; it still rattled his brain. The first blow had knocked the wind out of Danny and he'd dropped his gun. The third hit was in his left side and he felt the instant his ribs cracked. The pain washed over him, sounds were fading in and out and he couldn't catch his breath. The last thing Danny saw was the fourth punch headed toward his head.

While Danny lay unconscious behind the crates, Lazlo headed back into the warehouse. HPD was there to take Lazlo down. It took five cops to detain and cuff Lazlo. When the craziness of the raid was over, Steve went searching for his team. Finding Kono and Chin, the three looked for Danny. "Commander?"

"Yes, Lieutenant?"

The SWAT commander said, "It looks like we have everyone locked down. We're going to start transporting."

"Great. Good job." Steve turned to Chin. "Chin can you coordinate with HPD on transport?"

"On it." Chin headed back outside.

Turning to Kono, "Take a couple of HPD and do another sweep through the warehouse. With all these crates, I don't want to miss anything."

"Got it boss." Grabbing a couple of uniforms, Kono began searching the warehouse. Looking around, Steve couldn't help but wonder where Danny was.

Steve headed outside to see how things were going. They were processing people at the scene. Getting statements from the participants. The whole nine yards. There were over a hundred people in the warehouse, including spectators, muscle, and six fighters. From the snippets of conversations Steve overheard, the spectators had paid 25K a person to come and watch the fight. That didn't count the betting on the fights. Steve had seen the electronics set up inside. So he was pretty sure it was being recorded, at least, if not broadcast live. Which probably meant there was more betting online. In all this, he still couldn't find Danny and that was getting worrisome.

His phone rang. "McGarrett."

"Boss by the back of the warehouse. Inside right. I found Danny. He's pretty badly beaten."

"On my way." He was already at a run. "We need help inside. We have a man down," he called as he ran past the ambulance back into the warehouse.

"Over here!" Kono called and waved.

Steve and the paramedics headed in her direction. The paramedics went straight to work. "What the hell happened?"

"Looks like he was beaten, Commander," one of the paramedics said. "Pretty severely." The second paramedic ran back to get the stretcher so they could transport Danny to the hospital.

"Kono, did you finish the search?" Steve was tense watching the paramedics as they treated Danny.

"On it boss." She touched his shoulder. "He'll be okay. Danny's tough." A terse nod.

The paramedics quickly loaded the unconscious man onto the stretcher. Steve followed them out the door of the warehouse. As they loaded him in, one of the paramedics asked, "Are you coming, Commander?"

"Steve, go." Chin said, as he walked up. "We got this." Another terse nod and Steve jumped into the back of the ambulance.

 

A few days later Danny is on the couch, propped up on pillows. "So you're telling me, Lazlo's fists matched the unidentified fists on all four of our victims?" Danny had been unconscious for almost 24 hours. A moderate concussion and three cracked ribs. Now, he was back home recuperating.

Sitting in the chair, Steve nodded. "Yeah. Max had done his usual amazing job at cataloging the fist impressions by size and shape. We matched Lazlo's fist with the chest punch on Myles. We used that to get Lazlo to confess. He's not too bright. Seems the Yakuza would set up the fights and Lazlo was there to make sure someone died. So, we have him for murder."

"Nice." Danny shifted a bit on the couch. "What else did I miss?" Thankfully, the HPD had done the processing of over a hundred participants involved it was too much for just Five-O. In fact, it had kept Steve from Danny's bedside the entire time he was in the hospital.

"The spectators paid 25K each to watch the fight. Next Lazlo would hold open betting on which fighter would win. Then there were the bets on the internet. There were three fights a night. If you won three fights, you fought Lazlo. Lazlo wins. You die."

"He could do it too, I think. This," Danny said, waving at himself. "was four punches."

Steve handed Danny water. "Four?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure. I know I was out by the fourth punch." Danny took a drink. "Thanks."

"He confessed to dealing the finishing blow on all the dead fighters." Steve smiled slightly. "You were right about the fight to the death. Every fighter there had terminal cancer. Turns out, they learned about the fights from the Care Officer at the docks."

Moving around some to get more comfortable. "The Care Officer for the Union?"

"Yeah. If you have an injury or illness, you let the Care Office know. That way, if you call in sick you have documented reasons."

"Damn." They lapsed into silence. After a while, Danny broached the question with Steve. "Are you okay?"

"No."

"Talk to me, babe."

"I've been so worried that you would have had to fight. I don't know why."

"Oh, babe." Danny got up and moved to the chair. Very carefully, he sat down in Steve's lap. "I know how to protect myself."

"This time you couldn't. Four punches?" He put his arms around Danny's waist gently. "He could have killed you as easily as he did Myles. One punch Danny. All it would take is one punch."

Laying his head on Steve's shoulder. "You're right this time I couldn't protect myself. It happens."

"No, Danny. I'm supposed to protect you."

Lifting his head Danny kissed Steve gently. "You can't protect me all the time, babe. I'm a cop. It's what we do."

"When I saw Kai's picture and he looked like you with dark hair, I got so worried." Steve's face looked so worried.

Danny used his thumb to rub the worry lines on Steve's forehead. "I'm okay. That active brain of yours went into overdrive. Yes, I got beat up and I didn't even land a punch. But I am fine." Using his index finger Danny drew down Steve's face to his lips. "I know you are going to worry. Just like I worry about you going off half cocked into most situations we face. But I'm fine. Nothing that won't heal." He laid his hand on Steve's check.

"I love you, Danno." Steve leaned into the touch. "I can't lose you."

A soft understanding smile. "I love you, too, you big goof. And I am not going anywhere."

"Promise me."

"As much as I can promise anything. Come here." And they kissed.

 

Finis


End file.
